


Steps

by Phoenix_Falls



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/F, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 15:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3982522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_Falls/pseuds/Phoenix_Falls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modified prompt from tumblr: "you asked me to the store with you and your child, and now my distant relative we met thinks im married with a baby"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [w00t4ewan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/w00t4ewan/gifts).



“I can’t thank you enough for doing this, Em.” JJ said from the passenger’s seat for the twelfth time that week as Emily guided her car around the crowded parking lot of the grocery store.

Emily shrugged just like she had the other eleven times. “It’s really not a big deal, Jen.” She said honestly, glancing over at her with a smile. “It’s not every day my favourite little man turns five.” She directed her gaze to the rearview mirror to the little blonde strapped snugly into the booster seat in the back where he was excitedly kicking his thin legs at the air in front of him. “Isn’t that right, Henry?”

“Yes!” Henry immediately agreed brightly, throwing out an open palm to show them how many five was. “I’muna be _five_ , mommy!”

JJ chuckled and shook her head. “Yes you sure are, baby.”

Henry frowned and crossed his arms over his puffed out chest. “M’not a _baby_.” He corrected. “Five is very big.”

JJ nodded amiably as Emily pulled into a freed up space and glanced over her shoulder at her son. “Next week.” She reminded him. “So you’ll just have to handle being my baby for the next four days; you think you can do that?”

“ _Mom-my_.” Henry groaned in the exasperatedly long-suffering way particular to children under seven.

Emily snickered when JJ rolled her eyes and fixed her face with a serious expression, leaning towards her friend. “He’s going to be _five_ , JJ.” She said gravely.

“Hush.” JJ laughed and shoved Emily away from her before following the brunette out of the car.

“Mommy,” Henry said with a solemn tone as JJ unbuckled him and set him on the ground. “We don’t push or hit.”

JJ looked over Henry to where Emily was barely containing her amusement, the blonde’s expression clearly reading ‘ _can you believe this kid?_ ’ which had been abbreviated to a single look almost the moment he’d learnt to put together simple sentences. “You’re right, Henry; we don’t push or hit people.”

“Do you gotsta sit on the step when we go home now?” he asked, slipping his hand into JJ’s and reaching for Emily’s as they walked across the parking lot

Emily didn’t bother holding in her amusement this time and let out a loud laugh. Whenever Henry got in trouble, he was given a talking to and then made to sit on the bottom step of the staircase for a few minutes to think about what he’d done; not being fully released until he demonstrated he understood what he’d done wrong. JJ had been highly skeptical of that tactic, but Garcia had suggested it after seeing it on Super Nanny a million times and it was surprisingly effective. “I think mommy’s too tall for the step, what do you think?”

Henry nodded and appeared to be deliberating a solution while JJ whispered, “ _why are you taking his side_?” over his head.

“ _We don’t push or hit.”_ Emily whispered back, just barely managing to get the reply out with a straight face.

“She can sit at the table!” Henry declared, skipping excitedly between the two women. “How many minutes does mommy gotsta sit?” he asked earnestly, releasing JJ’s hand so she could grab a shopping cart and clasping onto Emily’s with both of his; swinging her arm back and forth.

“How old you are is how many minutes you have to sit.” Emily reminded him. “How many do you sit?”

“Four!” He looked over at his mother and adopted his best JJ voice, “ _five next week_.”

Emily grinned at him and scooped him up when JJ wheeled the cart over to place him in the child seat. “Do you know how many your mom will have to sit then?”

Henry scrutinized his mother carefully, the fingers of one hand curled under his chin as he thought. “Twelve.” He responded firmly, looking at Emily for confirmation.

“My sweet little boy.” JJ laughed.

“A bit more than twelve, Henry.” Emily said, ruffling his hair and smoothing it back down before he could protest.

Henry scrunched up his face. “Eleventy.” He threw his hands out excitedly and added, “billion!” with a pleased little shout.

“Look what you started,” JJ reprimanded amusedly, bumping Emily sharply with her hip. “Ya big jerk.”

“Mommy, you’re gonna haf to sit at the table for- _ever_.” Henry pointed out seriously. “Me’n Em’ly are gonna watch cartoons while you gotsta sit all alone and think how come you can’t come watch cartoons.” He looked sternly at his mother before turning his head to Emily who was deliberating over a display of tomatoes. “Right, Em’ly?”

Emily nodded with a snicker, dropping two tomatoes into a plastic back and plopping them in Henry’s lap for him to inspect. “Yep,” she agreed, taking over pushing the cart to steer it towards the carrots. “She’ll be sitting at the table all the way until your birthday.” She smiled when Henry’s eyes grew wide.

“You better be extra good, mommy.” Henry advised, his face full of concern.

JJ shrugged and grinned at him. “I guess I wouldn’t want to sit at the table for- _ever_.” She conceded. “Although, I _could_ use the break.”

Emily rolled her eyes as she took on a mock strict tone; “You better be extra good, Jennifer.”

“Oh I definitelyam.” JJ insisted, sliding her hand across the brunette’s lower back when she shuffled out of Emily’s way so she could get to the nearby onions. “You have _no idea_.” She added lowly, smiling widely at the slightly flustered look on Emily’s face and leaning over to blow a quick raspberry against Henry’s cheek which was still delightfully puffy with baby fat, causing him to giggle. “I’m gonna go grab some other stuff; you guys going to be okay for a minute?”

“Yeah,” Emily started, clearing her throat on hearing how thick her voice sounded to her own ears. “We can handle it; we’re old pros by now, right, buddy?”

Henry nodded automatically. “Old pros!” He echoed enthusiastically.

Emily, with a look on her face that she was positive was equal parts dopey and besotted, watched JJ saunter away from the produce section and disappear around the corner as Henry examined the tomatoes in his lap much more carefully than she’d shown him how. There had always been underlying tension between the two women, even when they first met, but JJ’s seemingly uncharacteristic insecurity when it came to Emily and Emily’s chronic habit of tearing off like a bat out of hell in the exact opposite direction of powerful emotions had kept them dancing around each other for far too long. What had supposed to have been a short, fun, fling for JJ turned into a son everyone justifiably loved to pieces and a husband she didn’t want.

JJ had tried her damndest to make it work with Will. She hadn’t planned on having a child with him, but once she found out she was pregnant, she knew that she very much wanted Henry even if she still hadn’t been sure about Will. She liked Will, she even loved him, but she wasn’t _in_ love with him. JJ had been trying to puzzle out her feelings the second she’d found out she was pregnant but unfortunately, the second she told Will, he’d proposed and expected a yes. She tried to put off giving him an answer so she could figure things out but once he let it slip to the team (in a move she was still certain was intentional), JJ _had_ to tell her family as well. Her mother and sister-in-law had subsequently spent the following months exploiting her insecurities about raising a child on her own and depriving her baby of a stable home with both their parents.

So JJ had done what she thought was the right thing and married Will at the courthouse two days before she returned to work from maternity leave. Of course, her family was suitably distressed that there hadn’t been a wedding, but JJ honestly hadn’t wanted one; the very idea had been tellingly uncomfortable. Things had been good for a while, but JJ had never managed to find that elusive beast known as romantic love when it came to Will and that had finally started to wear on her in noticeable ways. Eventually, JJ couldn’t stop herself from continuously pushing him away or shutting herself down and it she was _relieved_ when he told her that he’d fallen in love with someone else. Seeing as she always saw them as friends versus husband and wife or even lovers, JJ hadn’t been hurt by the news though she had been concerned for Henry.

Henry took the divorce as well as a little boy who loved both his parents could be expected and Garcia and Emily had been a godsend, especially Emily who Henry had always been extra attached to (much to Will’s quiet chagrin). Not that their particular brand of flirtation had ever fully gone away, once Will moved out of JJ’s house, it had become far more blatant. JJ knew they’d missed an opportunity before, and part of her was annoyed at herself for letting Emily push her away knowing full well that that’s what the brunette did when she was overwhelmed with the intensity of her feelings but she’d gotten Henry out of the deal so she couldn’t possibly regret anything. At this point, JJ was very clear on the fact that she and Emily were going to be together at some point and though they’d only spoken about it through their ability to have three conversations at once, she knew Emily was clear on that too.

JJ just didn’t want to push Henry into being ready to see her with someone else. Once word had gotten around the office that she had been single again for a respectable amount of time, JJ’d had more than a few dinner invitations and had even taken up some offers (it was foolish to turn down free dinner, honestly) but Henry’s reaction had her kicking that habit. He was her world and she’d do anything to ease this process for him. Besides, Emily wasn’t going anywhere. That had never been a real concern, but the profiler had made that more than abundantly clear over the last six months. It was slow torture though. JJ would periodically ask her son in simple terms how he would feel if she started dating again and she had yet to get any answer other than something involving panic and Emily wasn’t helping.

It was really JJ’s fault. She’d told Emily that she wanted to wait until Henry was able to cope with her dating and potentially have someone who wasn’t his father in another parental role before she saw anyone seriously and she had meant it. At first. By now, there were more than a few times (which were becoming more common place) where they had to remove themselves from each other’s physical space before something happened. They were _finally_ on the same page only to be emotionally held hostage by a preschooler. JJ was increasingly ready to say to hell with it, but Emily wouldn’t let her. JJ could tell it wasn’t an ideal situation for her too, but Emily adored Henry as much as he did her and it worried her beyond anything she’d admit out loud that she might give him cause to distrust or be upset with either her or JJ.

It was the right thing, but not the easy thing. Emily often had to remind herself that she’d already waited _this_ long, a little longer wasn’t going to kill her (even if she felt like that was incredibly debatable most days).

“Can we get red tatoes for the tooley?” Henry piped up from his seat, seemingly satisfied with the tomatoes in his lap, which he set overly gently on the seat next to him.

“Turly.” Emily corrected with a nod. “And if those are the kind you want, those are the kind we’ll get.” She pushed the cart towards the other end of the produce section, taking a meandering path as she allowed Henry to point out how to get to the potatoes. Emily often cooked for JJ and Henry, with Garcia and Reid frequently joining them. Emily loved to cook and she was good at it; she’d learnt quickly in her youth that the best way to immerse yourself in a new country and a new language was to learn to make its food. That, and when she was in whatever ostentatious mansion she was supposed to be calling home, she generally spent more time in the kitchens making friends with the staff than anywhere else. She loved to cook, but hated to go through that effort for just herself and was glad to be able to do it (and even give Rossi a run for his money) for her family. Turley was Henry’s favourite thing that Emily had ever made and that necessarily made her in charge of the birthday dinner.

“Can I put mustard on the tooley?”

“Turley.”

“That’s what I _said_.”

Emily chuckled and started the process of picking out enough potatoes. “You can put whatever you want on your tooley.” She assured him.

“What if I want ketchup?” Henry asked, watching her skeptically.

Emily pretended to think. “Yeah, you can put ketchup on it; you don’t think that would be too much tomato taste?”

“What about,” Henry drawled while looking around thoughtfully before pointing excitedly at a stack of yellow bell peppers. “That! It’s yellow, like mustard.”

“It’s _your_ birthday, buddy. If you wanted to put chocolate covered grasshoppers in it, I’ll make it happen.”

Henry managed to let out a thoroughly disgusted ‘ew’ while simultaneously giggling delightedly. “People don’t eat _bugs_ , Em’ly.” Henry pointed out before furrowing his brow. “One time, Matty Kay ate a worm Homa saw unner the slide.” He amended. “Is that a bug?”

Emily grimaced (though she herself had eaten the aforementioned grasshoppers on more than one occasion). “Nope, not a bug, but if you want that instead I bet we could get your Uncle Derek to get us some, how’s that?”

“No!” Henry shrieked happily. “M’not gonna eat a bug or a worm!”

Emily pretended to look disappointed, her tone matching her expression. “Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to put peppers and carrots in instead, huh?”

Henry nodded his enthusiastic support and they made their way out of the produce section to find out where JJ had wandered off to and pick up some meat. They found JJ juggling a gallon of milk and loaf of bread in one hand, a box of cereal in the other, and a look of intense concentration on her face as she contemplated the section of the snack aisle she was standing in front of.

Emily parked the cart and slid up behind JJ to take the items from her; sliding her hands down the bottom of her forearms surreptitiously to reach her hands. JJ grinned and subtly leaned back into the other woman. “Are we or are we not about to eat more sugar than is medically advisable in a few days?” Emily asked, shaking her head as she put the things in the basket of the cart.

“You act like between seven preschoolers and Penelope that we’ll get any. Anyway, that’s then.” JJ reasoned, reaching for a box of zebra cakes. “This is now, and right now I want something sweet.”

“Do you now?” Emily asked with a raised eyebrow once JJ turned around, her voice laced with innuendo. She shook her head, adopting a look of concerned skepticism. “I don’t know;” she drawled. “Have you been being _extra_ good?”

JJ smirked and flicked her eyes over the brunette appreciatively and unconsciously licking her lips. “Always am.” She guaranteed, raising her own eyebrows in challenge. “I could prove it to you.”

Emily bit the inside of her lower lip to stop the response on her tongue from leaving her mouth in front of a four year old. She cleared her throat before replying, “you’re killing me, Jayje.”

“Mommy,” Henry interjected with a frown. “Don’t kill Em’ly.”

JJ snorted, the tension that had been building dissipating slightly. “Never ever.” She promised, ruffling his hair. “Auntie Emily is just being silly.” She laughed when Emily muttered ‘speak for yourself’ under her breath.

“She’s jus Em’ly.” Henry corrected, his frown deepening slightly.

JJ rolled her eyes and tickled the side of her son’s neck. Shortly after JJ had attempted to reenter the dating world, Henry had stopped referring to Emily as his aunt. They’d thought maybe he was upset with her since she usually watched him when JJ went on a date, but Garcia watched him whenever Emily hadn’t been available and he still called her ‘Aunt Penny.’ JJ had long ago resigned herself to the fact that her son had his own sense of logic and once it was clear that he wasn’t angry at Emily for anything, they’d just let it go. “Well _Just Emily_ is being silly.” She leaned down slightly to look at him seriously when his frown only eased slightly. “I would never hurt Emily, okay, baby?” she looked up briefly to catch the brunette’s gaze, finding Emily smiling slightly and nodding in understanding that the comment had been meant for her as well.

“I _know_ , mommy.” Henry drawled dutifully, rolling his eyes in a way she was sure he’d learnt from the aforementioned brunette.

“Okay, good.” JJ nodded firmly and held up the box in her hand. “So zebra cakes or chocodiles?”

Emily snatched the box out of JJ’s hand and held it behind her back with a laugh. “You can’t possibly be considering stuffing your only child full of Hostess cakes four days before he’s going to spend literally all day eating sugar.”

“No!” JJ whined petulantly before exchanging a glance with Henry. “Not _full_ full.”

Emily chuckled and tossed the box of zebra cakes over Henry’s head and into the basket. “I’m hiding those from both you, by the way.”

“ _Okay, mom_.” JJ dragged out sarcastically; winking at her son to let him know that she’d find them later and laughing when Henry tried to wink back at her and succeeded only in blinking dramatically.

Emily rolled her eyes fondly and was about to say something else when someone saying her name startled her into realizing that they weren’t alone in the aisle anymore and seemingly hadn’t been for several moments. She turned to find a tall plump woman in her late sixties smiling excitedly at her and Emily’s face immediately broke into a surprised smile.

JJ watched Emily hug the woman happily, the two of them talking to each other in French too fast for her to really comprehend anything more than a few words. Henry looked at her expectantly and JJ offered him a clueless shrug in response. She smiled politely when Emily turned back to them to introduce the woman.

“Jen, this is Marie Gérard. She was our head cook whenever Mother was staying in Tournai.  She’s here visiting her sister.” She said by way of explaining why the older woman was so far removed from her home. “Marie taught me most of what I know in the kitchen.” She gestured toward the blonde. “Marie, this is JJ.”

JJ’s smile softened into something more sincere and she reached over to shake the woman’s hand. “I feel like I should be thanking you for that; Emily’s the best cook.” She said honestly.

Marie shrugged humbly, but the pleased smile on her face showed her pride in the compliment. “It is so good to hear she managed to put  _some_ of my advice to use.”

JJ laughed and Emily rolled her eyes in the same way a child humouring their parent does.

Marie’s face lit up as her eyes landed on Henry. “And who is this little duck?”

“I’m Henry!” Henry declared, deciding that anyone Emily hugged was okay to talk to. “I’m gonna be _five_.” He held up his hand to show her how many that was.

“Oh, _five_! Très impressionnant!” Marie gushed, suitably dazzled by such an important event. “You are going to be a big boy then!”

Henry looked at his mother, jutting his chin out proudly in an expression that said ‘ _I told you I’m not a baby_ ’ before turning back to Marie. “Em’ly’s gonna make tooley and we’re gonna have _Spider-Man_ cake and chocolate ice cream! You wanna come too?”

Marie chuckled, thoroughly charmed and shook her head. “Sorry little duck, but I am going home very far away tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Henry replied, his face falling slightly. “Next one you can come!” he decided, nodding as if that settled the matter.

“He is simply darling.” Marie said, looking over at JJ. “Looks just like you.”

“And he’s lucky for it.” Emily agreed affectionately, tapping her fingers against Henry fondly underneath one bare knee, which made him laugh and squirm in his seat.

Marie smiled tenderly. “I’m afraid I must go along, but it is _so_ _wonderful_ to see you. I will have Vincent send you my address.”

“I would love that.” Emily said, drawing the older woman into a hug again.

“You have such a beautiful family, Emily.” Marie commented, not noticing the other woman stiffen in her arms slightly. “It’s good to finally see you so happy and settled.”

“Oh, um…we, I…” Emily trailed off, unsure how to correct the assumption and looked at JJ helplessly who only smiled at her over Marie’s shoulder when she gathered the blonde in for a hug as well.

“It was very lovely to meet you, JJ; I hope Emily takes good care of you.”

JJ beamed broadly and nodded. “She definitely does.”

Marie gave a little wave to Henry. “I hope you have a good birthday, Henry! When your maman gives me your address, I will send you some candies from Belgium, how does that sound?”

Henry nodded vigorously, not knowing where Belgium was, but understanding ‘candy’ perfectly well. “Yes!” he caught Emily giving him a pointed look and quickly corrected himself: “yes, _thank you_.”

Marie left them with a smile and a promise to get Emily her information as soon as she got back to her sister’s and JJ raised her eyebrows at the adorably awkward look on the brunette’s face.

“Sorry about…” Emily started, shrugging sheepishly. “I didn’t really know how to correct her.”

JJ grinned and reached out to grab Emily’s hand to ease her embarrassment. “Yes, being mistaken for your wife is _so_ terrible.” She teased, squeezing the hand in hers. Emily gave her an almost self-conscious lopsided smile and JJ wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them and kiss her. She sighed deeply instead and eyed her son who was watching them with an intent look that reminded her precisely of when Reid was confronted with an interesting puzzle.

“Henry,” JJ said, bending over again to get on his level but keeping hold of Emily’s hand. “Remember we talked about maybe me seeing someone?” she normally only asked him at home and only after talking about it for a little while, but JJ couldn’t seem to help herself from trying again now.

“ _Yes_.” Henry groaned, crossing his arms and looking thoroughly annoyed at the turn toward that particular topic.

JJ bit her lip and looked over at Emily who was watching Henry with just as much anticipatory interest as she had been and Emily raised her shoulders once with a nod, understanding that JJ actually intended to tell him she wanted to see _her_ and not just _someone_.

“Well,” she continued, turning her attention back to her son. “How would you feel if I wanted to see Emily?”

Henry looked back and forth between his mother and Emily skeptically as if wondering if there were another Emily she was talking about and he was being tricked.

“Auntie Emily.” JJ clarified, seeing the brunette step closer to them in her peripheral vision.

“Okay!” Henry declared brightly, uncrossing his arms to grip the handlebar of the cart.

JJ blinked confusedly at him and how easily his agreement came. “Okay?”

Henry hummed and nodded.

“ _Auntie Emily_.” She repeated in case he’d missed something. It wasn’t that she expected him to fight her about dating again forever but his giving in and outright enthusiasm was surprising given the near tantrum he’d thrown about it just two weeks earlier.

Henry frowned at her like she was missing something and looked to Emily for help only to find her looking equally confused. “I want you to go with Em’ly.” Henry clarified. “Em’ly’s makes the best pancakes and tooley and tells the best stories and is real bad at hide-and seek, but that’s okay.” He nodded at Emily as if assuaging any shame she might feel over being a terrible hide-and-seeker. “That’s how come Em’ly’s jus Em’ly.”

JJ looked over at Emily who was grinning, but shrugged that she had no idea what he was talking about either. “What do you mean?”

Henry looked at her like he couldn’t fathom how his mother didn’t understand the obvious. “I want Em’ly to me my nother mom.” He said impatiently. “You can’t be the aunt and the nother mom at the same time. I asked Shelly cause she gots two mamas and she said, so I don’t want Em’ly to be my aunt anymore.”

Emily let out a surprised bark of laughter, followed quickly by JJ as they realized that Henry being so off-put by the idea of his mother dating and not calling Emily his aunt had been related issues and JJ just hadn’t been asking him the correct questions. Henry started giggling simply because Emily and JJ were laughing and JJ messed up the little blonde’s hair with her free hand before pressing a loud kiss to his forehead.

“Well _that_ explains everything.” She commented, squeezing Emily’s hand and turning to her with a grin. “What do you think about that, Miss Prentiss?”

Emily tugged JJ into her by their connected hands and brought her free hand up to tangle her fingers through soft golden hair and kissed her, both of them sighing like they’d been holding their breath for years the moment their lips touched.

“ _Sto-op_.” Henry whined when he felt like the ‘gross’ display had been going on too long, causing the two women to pull apart with a laugh and a final chaste kiss.

“Let’s go out tonight.” JJ suggested breathily, backing away from Emily and letting go of her hand since she absolutely didn’t trust herself not to kiss her again and as much as she wanted to, Henry was very clearly averse to his mother making out in front of him at the grocery store. “Pen’ll be _thrilled_ and demand to watch Henry even on short notice.”

Emily grinned and started to push the cart down the aisle. “Do you want to go to your Aunt Penny’s, buddy?”

Henry frowned and crossed his arms. “Mommy’s posed to sit at the table when we get home. For,” he dragged the word out while he tried to recall. “Eleventy billion minutes.”

Emily nodded seriously. “How about we let your mom sit at the table for how many minutes it takes to get you ready for Aunt Penny’s and take you over there?”

“Is that eleventy billion?”

“Very nearly, I bet.”

Henry looked over at his mother sternly, trying to decide if those were acceptable terms before nodding. “Okay.” He leaned forward and let his head fall heavily against Emily’s forearm. “I’m happy you’re gonna be my nother mom, Em’ly.”

Emily grinned even though Henry wasn’t looking at her and felt like her heart was going to burst. “Me too, buddy.” She said sincerely, looking over at JJ while she said it.

“Me three.” JJ said playfully, hooking her arm through Emily’s and reaching across both of them to lightly pinch Henry’s cheek.


End file.
